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The CHIRP Blog
Clarence Ewing: The Million Year Trip writesClassic Album Sundays Features Exile on Main St. on Sunday June 25th!
The global listening party Classic Album Sundays continues on the last weekend in June. This month's subject is the 1972 Rolling Stones double-album Exile on Main St., a record that routinely appears on lists of "Greatest Rock Albums of All Time."
Created during a turbulent period in the band's life (they were living in France at the time to avoid the UK tax man, and half the group spent the recording sessions strung out on herion), the album incorporates pretty much every style and influence the Stones' learned from American music, including Blues, Soul, Gospel, and Country.
The way the sausage was made only adds to the record's folklore. In the end, the Stones achieved a sound and feel that few groups (including themselves) would manage to match during the Rock era.
Colleen from CAS has written an excellent retrospective on this album, and Sam has prepared playlists that highlight some of the work that influenced the band as well as music that was in turn influenced by this album.
The Chicago branch of CAS will gather at Saturday Audio Exchange (1021 W Belmont Ave, Chicago, IL 60657) this Sunday, June 25th, from 5:30pm to 8:30pm to spin the record on super hi-fi equipment. The evening's schedule of events is as follows:
5:30-6:30 pm: Sam will play a musical leadup playlist of artists that inspired or have been inspired by The Rolling Stones, including Slim Harpo, Twin Peaks, Alabama Shakes, Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, and Dr. John. Sam-made lemonade and Dark Matter Coffee coffee is available for free to attendees. It's also BYOB.
6:35 pm: Sam gives presentation on Exile on Main St., detailing its recording process and lyrical content
6:45 pm: Sam drops the needle on Exile on Main St.
Tickets to the event are $5 and can be purchased at the CAS Chicago EventBrite page.
Clarence Ewing: The Million Year Trip writesIn Rotation: TALsounds
TALsounds has a new album out on Ba Da Bing records. Selections from Love Sick are available In Rotation and by request on CHIRP Radio!
Lady Amelia writesA Conversation With LimeRed Studio
LimeRed is a local user experience (UX) firm that develops design and UX projects that emphasize social justice and innovation. Since the firm was founded in 2004, they’ve also garnered certifications as both a woman-owned business (WBE) and a Certified B Corporation (B-Corp), meeting high standards of social and environmental performance as well as public transparency and accountability. This is an especially impressive feat as Chicago is only home to 21 B-Corps and fewer than half of those businesses are woman-owned.
In the spirit of local community-building and cross-organizational efforts, CHIRP Radio Features Director Amelia Hruby spent a morning at LimeRed recently with founder and company President Emily Lonigro Boylan and Strategy Director Demetrio Cardona-Maguigad.
Amelia: How did LimeRed get started?
Emily: I started my company because I had a computer, one client, and big ideas. I didn’t know anything. After college, I had been living in Chicago and working at agencies and on social justice projects, but I moved to New York because I had nothing to lose. So I was running my own little business with clients, larger agencies, and smaller non-profits. I kind of had a 50/50 split between New York and Chicago. It was going well, and that’s when I incorporated LimeRed.
At that point I was freelancing for a company that did luxury design goods. Most of their clients were luxury e-commerce, cosmetics, travel and real estate, and that’s really where I learned everything online. But the stuff I was selling, I just couldn’t do it. So I quit and said “I can’t do this anymore.” I decided that I had to stay true to what I think and do small business and non-profit and social justice and blend it all together, because you can’t be two people, it just doesn’t work.
Clarence Ewing: The Million Year Trip writes@CHIRPRADIO (Week of June 19)
Upcoming Events
- Friday June 23 to Sunday June 25: CHIRP Radio is at Logan Square Arts Festival
- Saturday June 24: CHIRP Radio welcomes Daniel Knox to The Hideout
- Saturday June 24: CHIRP Radio welcomes The Pains of Being Pure at Heart to Lincoln Hall
- Sunday June 25: The Chicago chapter of Classic Album Sundays gathers at Saturday Audio Exchange for a listening party featuring The Rolling Stones album Exile on Main Street
New Media
- Amelia Hruby chats with Ravyn Lenae
- First Time - First Test by Dan Epstein
- Bradley Morgan reflects on the 30th anniversary of himself and U2’s The Joshua Tree
- Josh Friedberg reviews Smokey Robinson’s My World: The Definitive Collection
Josh Friedberg: Music Historian's Corner writesAlbum Review: Smokey Robinson’s My World: The Definitive Collection
by Josh Friedberg
Smokey Robinson was called the greatest and most influential songwriter in R&B history by Rolling Stone, and he has often been acclaimed for bringing exceptionally sophisticated lyrics to many Motown hits of the 1960s. In fact, in addition to his hits with the Miracles, he wrote or co-wrote hits for the Temptations (including the immortal “My Girl”), Marvin Gaye (“Ain’t That Peculiar”), and Mary Wells (“My Guy”), among others.
I don’t know if 2005’s My World: The Definitive Collection was the first single-disc overview of Robinson’s entire career, but it is a satisfying listen with some all-time classic moments, including “Cruisin’,” “The Tracks of My Tears,” and “I Second That Emotion.” It can feel surprising, as it is not in chronological order, so the transitions between the Miracles’ classics and the solo material can be slightly jarring, but overall, this is an excellent compilation whose material deserves many listens.
The collection opens with two new recordings, “My World” and “Fallin’,” and the classic R&B style of the former—with electric piano and a bass-saturated groove—is complemented by the more jazz-influenced chords of the latter. The lyrics on both are spare, and though some might laugh at a line like “Palpitations, heart beating so erratic/ Whenever I think about you, these things are automatic,” it works with Robinson’s classic falsetto and smooth delivery.